Megananopolygraphy

Thomas Jefferson famously used a device called a polygraph that held multiple pens in parallel, allowing him to make simultaneous multiple copies of letters and other documents. What would he make of this?

Researchers have developed a device that uses 55,000 perfectly aligned, microscopic pens to write patterns with features the size of viruses. . .

The device builds on a technique called dip-pen nanolithography, which was first developed in 1999 . . .

In that system, the tip of a single atomic force microscope (AFM) probe is dipped in selected molecules, much as a quill pen would be dipped in ink. Then the molecules slip from the tip of the probe onto a surface, forming lines or dots less than 100 nanometers wide. Their size is controlled by the speed of the pen.

Found via FuturePundit. Read more about the original polygraph in Thomas Jefferson and His Copying Machines.

Posted by David on October 4, 2006 12:20 PM